Howdy folks and greetings from the Great Plains of North Texas where it's a sleeveless day today with warm temps and sunny skies!
Yesterday I started a new series about two of our most famous outlaws, much of that fame due to the 1969 movie starring Robert Redford and Paul Newman which was based on their real life criminal career:
By the way, the film is mostly true, it's a fairly accurate portrayal of the actual events which, for Hollywood, is rather miraculous. Mostly true.
But back to real life history, I began talking about Butch, or Bob, which was his real name, and his family history. His family immigrated from England to Salt Lake City to join their fellow Mormon Believers.
Like father like son
They were very devout until Bob's dad, Maxi, started avoiding church, smoking tobacco, and basically not being very serious about the faith. Young Bob followed in his steps as a teenager and also began smoking and avoiding church services.
Maxi had tried to buy some land from another Mormon but they got into an argument about who actually owned it.(long story)That dispute was settled by the local bishop who sided with the other Mormon and not Maxi.
Maxi was sure that he was discriminated against because the other man was a devout member of the church and he wasn't.
Bob's first brush with the Law
Another incident which influenced Bob was when he traveled into town to buy a new pair of work pants but when he arrived the store was closed. Well, he forced his way in, got a pair of pants his size and left an IOU on the counter.
The owner of the store didn't like that idea and told the Sheriff who went and arrested Bob. It got straightened out but Bob was convinced that because he and his dad were kinda back-slidden in the church and everyone else was very devout and in good standing, that they made this a big issue.
This was big
It sounds like a small thing to us reading it all these years later but back then such an incident was a major one. This humiliated Bob and brought shame upon his family name which was absolutely HUGE in the Mormon community.
After what had happened to his dad and now this, both events which he saw as unjust, left a bitter taste in his mouth. So Bob was thoroughly not seeing any good in authority figures.
Bob's character
I wanted to take a second to talk about what Bob was like besides his resentment of authority. Since he was a small child he loved all kinds of animals and would nurse wounded birds and critters back to health on their ranch.
He just had a way with animals of any kind but his gift was something special when it came to horses because he seemed to know exactly how to act and speak to them in his soft, soothing voice.
Bob's special gift
It was said that there was not a wild stallion that he couldn't tame and he when he wasn't working on the family ranch he would break in "unbreakable" horses at ranches in the area. Horses were his first love, his passion, and there was not a horse he couldn't ride.
You know how it is folks...some kids are just mean from day one, they used to say "bad seed." Some don't seem to have a conscious and are cruel. Bob was the opposite. Plus he loved his momma, whose name was Annie. In fact, he absolutely ADORED her.
His siblings would tell about how he would waltz her around the room and then pick her up and sit her on the dining room table and say "Bring the crown. Ma's the Queen!" And his mom would blush and protest but secretly cherish every minute of course! lol. I can just see that scene with his mom blushing and laughing.
That's the kind of kid he was. His family was a wonderful bunch, very wholesome and lived righteously. So what happened to him?
Chose your friends wisely
Bob's family, the Parkers, were struggling financially. (My God they had 13 kids so no wonder!) His dad was away working most of the time and his mom got a chance to work at a large ranch in the area and the owner was happy to hire Bob also when he learned about his skill with horses.
Plus, Bob was a hard worker and even though he was only about 16 years old he could keep up with full grown men in that department. One of the ranch hands at that ranch was a friendly, handsome drifter named(or calling himself)Mike Cassidy.
Bad influence
No one knows where he came from or what his background was. He was friendly and charming and Bob's mom knew right away that he was bad news. Oh, the wisdom and intuition of mothers, what a blessing.
Evidently Mike had been all over the West and told the enchanted young Bob about his adventures: Saloons, dance hall girls, the Painted Ladies of the cow towns, fights, all the money he had lost and won gambling..and on and on. Bob was spellbound. Annie was mortified.
In the next post Bob makes a fateful decision which changes his life forever.
Thanks for reading folks, God bless you all!
-jonboy Texas
the gentleman redneck
PS- ya know...you might just be a redneck if:
You drove to elementary school!
